Wall structure for refrigerator cars



Aug. 18, 1959 K. E. zElDLER WALL STRUCTURE FOR REFRIGERATOR CARS Filed Jan. 4. 1956 v rlll llllllllilll.

AUnited States Patent O WALL STRUCTURE FOR REFRIGERATOR CARS Kurt E. Zedler, Chicago, lll., assignor to Standard Railway Equipment Manufacturing Company, Chicago, Ill., a corporation of Delaware Application January 4, 1956, Serial No. 557,416

4 Claims. (Cl. 10S- 409) This invention relates to railway refrigerator cars and has special reference to the structure of the walls of said cars, and is an improvement upon the structure of refrigerator car ydisclosed and claimed in application Serial No. 529,268, tiled August 18, 1955 and owned by my assignee.

Refrigerator cars are double walled, that is, they are provided with a side plate, side sill, side wall posts extending therebetween and side sheathing secured to said side posts, which constitute the outer wall of the car. Spaced inwardly from this outer wall is an inner wall, which consists of an inner side plate, an inner side sill, spaced inner side posts extending therebetween, and side wall lining secured to said inner posts. Between these inner and outer walls is installed insulation, secured in place in any acceptable manner.

In the so-called top bunker refrigerator cars, the inner wall is constructed to provide vertical ues between the inner posts so that air can circulate by convection currents from the top of the car to the bottom thereof, through said ilues.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a combination of aluminum side flue fastener with each inner side post to facilitate the installation of the ue sheets.

It is another object of the invention to form the flue sheets so that they may be sprung into place along their vertical side marginal edges into grooves formed in said ue fasteners, along their upper horizontal margin into another groove, and fastened along their lower horizontal margin to a wall of the car gutter.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a flue sheet that is easily assembled.

By providing the aluminum flue fastener as attachable to the inner side posts, the fasteners may all be attached to said posts and the llue sheets then sprung into place, substantially identical to the manner described in the referred to copending application Serial No. 529,268, or the fasteners may be attached successively along the car and the ue sheets also successively applied.

Further objects and advantages of this invention will become evident as the description proceeds and from an examination of the accompanying drawing which illustrates several embodiments of the invention and in which similar numerals refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a partial transverse section of a refrigerator car embodying the invention.

Figure 2 is a section on line 2-2 of Figure l.

The general parts of the refrigerator car shown are the roof 12, side plate 13, outer wall sheathing 14, side sill 15, spaced wall posts 16, spacer block 17, inner side sill 18, inner side plate 19, inner side post, flue sheets 21, lining 22, foraminous floor rack 23, insulated oor 24, and space 25 between the tloor rack 23 and oor 24. A hatch 11 is provided through the insulated roof 12, and a ceiling 26 is provided which extends between the inner s 2,899,913 Patented Aug. 18, 1959 ICC side plates 19, said hatch 11 extending through said ceiling.

Adjacent the ceiling 26 and inner side wall is a refrigerant container 27 having an opening 28 through the top thereof registering with the hatch 11 through which it may be iced. A drip pan 29 extends from the top of the lining 22 under the container 27 in slightly spaced relation to receive any condensation dropping thereon and to conduct same to a ue 30 formed in the ue sheets 21. Thus, the drip pan 29 and ceiling 26 form an enclosure about the container 27 so that air circulation is from the lading compartment 31 up through the longitudinal center of the car, down between drip pan 29 and ceiling 26 about the container 27 to ues 30 and downwardly therethrough to space 25 and thence upwardly through the foraminous rack 23 to the lading compartment 31 where the cycle is repeated. A horizontally disposed clip 35 is secured to the inner side plate 19, the lower margin of said clip being olfset sutliciently to allow the upper margin 36 of the ilue sheets to be inserted between said offset margin and the inner side plate, as clearly shown in Figure 1. (The side margins 39-39 of the ue sheet are held by llue fasteners 43.)

Referring now to Figure 2, the inner side post comprises a Z-bar, the web 41 of which extends normal to the wall, with an inner flange 42 parallel to the wall, and supporting a vertically disposed aluminum side ilue fastener 43, secured to ange 42 by a row of self tapping screws 55 or the like. The opposite inner corners of the side ue fastener are chamfered as at 44, and the opposite sides of said fasteners are provided with grooves 47 into which the vertical side margins 39-39 of the llue sheets extend and are held in place by the resilience of the sheets 21. The inner face 48 of the fastener is narrower than the outer face 49 thereof.

The llue sheets 21 are formed of light gauge corrosion resisting material, being pressed with a dished or panshaped body portion as indicated in Figure 1, to provide the ue area 30. The upper margin 36 and side margins 39-39 of each flue sheet are in the form of lateral flanges occurring substantially in the same plane, whereas the lower margin 51 projects inwardly and downwardly for attachment as by bolts 54, to the similarly inclined ange 52 of the gutter 53 along the side margin of the car oor.

In installing the ue sheets, the sides of the pan are compressed until the vertical margins 39--39 may enter the grooves 47 in fasteners 43, and then the ue sheet is slid upwardly until the upper horizontal margin 36 extends under the clip 35, when the bolts 54 are applied, and the ue sheet is thus securely held in place. The chamfered edges 44 of the fasteners aid in sliding the edges of margins 39-39 therealong until they snap into the grooves 47.

The car lining 22 is usually of plywood and is secured to the anges 42 of the spaced inner posts. The lower edge of said lining terminates approximately on a horizontal plane with the foraminous rack 23. The vertical edges of the lining meet over an inner post flange 42, and are formed with a shiplap joint as shown in Figure 2. The ange 42, fastener 43, and the'shiplap joint are provided with a row of registering spaced holes so that bolts 59 may be applied to hold the parts together.

In the drawing and specification specific terms are employed, but they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation. Changes in form and in the proportion of parts, as well as the substitution of equivalents are contemplated, as circumstances may suggest or render expedient, without departing from the spirit or scope of this invention as further defined in the following claims.

I claim:

`1. In a refrigerator car having vertical posts, elongated flue sheet fasteners trapezoidal in cross section removably nttnehed .to Seid no StS. y.and .eoeidennive iiierefwith, n grooye along each longitudinal edge of said fasteuersuslieets o onrnreeeed between Seidfeeienere., ,Seidiiue gheetS iievirrg e .ledy portion will,1 verdeel Side marginal edgeS :held within' Sfidgroovee by tire reeilienee of Seid sheets, and

ngS'eenred to Seid dde Sheer indieners, whereby .Seid ng, reid indienen and ASeid diie eneetS .fo-.rm eneloeed verdeel .dneS- .211,i e refrigerator enr having an 'inner Side Still and inner eide Plate, yertieal no StS "extending between Snid Siill end plate having an iniierilenge, elongated tine Slieet f SLtenerLS trapezoid ,l in eroee 1Section removably eitgelied t, Seid flange, Sed fastened vrirewided with e groove :along een` vvertienl longitudinal `edge., .elongitirdinal o lip eeeiired to ,Seid side Pleite, Said olie beingleileer to nroride e groove in Plane with the aforementioned grooves, and ilue sheets' compressed between said v f'a s te ne1sv, said ue ,SlieetS leervirig a generally pen Sirene 'body Portion With Si e and top marginal edged., .Seid rnerginaledges diepoeed in die .grooyee of Seid f StenerS and elie- 3 ,In e refrigerator enr well, Yertieelly disposed Stroetnnal .nienrbers' eeen eornprieing a flange parallel to Said well, .e web Supporting Snid ilenge, en elongated nneelleet fastener trape'zoidal lin cross section removably secured longitudinally along Seid iinnge e groove along egel1 lodgitndinel edge of v Seid fastener, Seid ,grooree f orniing ase-anis Y Seid eide alare, ,Saidelip being enserio provide a inner and outer portions on each side edge of said fastener one of whichis vnarrower than the other, vliuesheets compressed between said fasteners, said ue sheets having side marginal flanges held within said grooves by the resilience of said sheets, and lining secured to said fastener by fastening means extending through said lining, said fastener and said Hang?.

14- In e refrigereter .eer dering .e Side nlgte, Speeed apart vertical posts, elongateduesheet fasteners ysecured lengitndinally along Sad rpoSts, a groene along enen dorigitudinal 4edge :said rfasteners, dine Isheets i compressed ibetween said fasteners, a clip secured longitudinally lalong move 1n plane with the aforementioned grooves, said ues'heets having side and ttop marginal anges :held within their respective grooves by the resilience of said sheets, and a bottom marginal flange removably secured to a car part adjacent dieser donn Refereneee Ci.ted in the .d .leof this patent UNITED srArEs -.PArENrs 

